Project Skydrop winner revealed as Boston meteorologist Dan Leonard

By MADISON SCHOFIELD

Staff Writer

Published: 10-04-2024 7:58 PM

WENDELL — The treasure hunter who found the Project Skydrop treasure has been revealed.

Dan Leonard, a meteorologist from Boston, has come forward as the previously anonymous treasure hunter who found the 24-karat gold statue in the Wendell State Forest earlier this week.

Project Skydrop is a treasure hunt that has taken the internet by storm. New Hampshire game designer Jason Rohrer said he, alongside creative partner Tom Bailey, sought to create the “world’s best treasure hunt” by dropping a 4-inch-tall gold statue, valued at $26,725, somewhere in the woods of the northeastern United States. From there, a map was posted at projectskydrop.com with a circle detailing the treasure’s location. The game began Thursday, Sept. 19, with a 500-mile diameter and continued to shrink daily, helping hunters close in on the prize’s location.

In the week and a half before the prize was found, more than 9,000 treasure hunters paid a $20 registration fee that signed them up for exclusive hints in the form of daily aerial photos of the location. By Tuesday at 5:19 p.m., the hunt was over, with the prize having been found by a treasure hunter, who at the time was remaining anonymous.

However, Leonard, a senior meteorologist at The Weather Co. in Andover, publicly came forward later this week as the winner of the treasure hunt.

In a phone interview Friday evening, Leonard said he heard about the treasure hunt while watching the news, and thought it was a cool game that he had the skills to do well at.

“I thought this was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen and I had to have it,” Leonard said of the hidden statue, the design of which is loosely inspired by the Big Bang and expansion of the universe.

In the early days of the hunt that started with the 500-mile diameter map, Leonard, who grew up in Hubbardston, said he recognized the landscape of the treasure’s hidden location as being in New England woods. Using data from weather stations in the region, he then further narrowed his search through the temperature data linked to the treasure’s trail cam, a live feed from which was broadcast at projectskydrop.com. He said it was guaranteed to be in Franklin County, near Route 2, based on fog and cloud movements he observed on the trail cam. He also noticed beech trees on the camera and researched maps showing where beech trees are located on publicly owned land.

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Leonard eventually narrowed down his search area to ¼-square-mile and hit the trail. Then, following a map of beech trees in the forest, he combed the woods for about an hour and a half on Tuesday afternoon until he found the treasure. He said the hike to the location was “not bad” and he enjoyed walking through the beautiful Wendell State Forest.

“I spent a lot of my childhood wandering the forest,” Leonard said. “It was nice to return for a cool walk through the woods to find some treasure.”

While Leonard has found the statue, he has not yet claimed the cash prize of $87,000, Rohrer said. To do so, Leonard must now crack the code that is etched into the statue.

Rohrer said he traveled back to Wendell State Forest on Thursday and met Leonard, who was unaware that the symbols etched into the gold statue are actually a secret 12-word phrase that must be decoded to claim the money. The existence of the code on the statue was outlined in the game introduction video, as well as on the Frequently Asked Questions page of the Project Skydrop website, Rohrer noted.

Although Leonard said he wasn’t participating in the treasure hunt for the Bitcoin prize, but rather for the thrill of the hunt itself, if he can decode the statue’s symbols, he said he would put the money toward a college fund for his infant son and donate a portion toward conservation efforts.

Rohrer added that since Leonard has shown the statue publicly, there is still a possibility that someone else might crack the code before he does.

“There’s a chance someone could steal the bounty out from under him,” Rohrer said.

Leonard said he is working diligently to solve the puzzle and thinks he will have it decoded soon.

What’s next for Project Skydrop?

As for the future of Rohrer’s treasure hunt, because he didn’t anticipate the statue being found so soon — 11 days into a hunt that was expected to continue up to 21 days, ending Oct. 10 — he developed a second-place prize. The first 20 registered hunters who can find the location and submit the accurate GPS coordinates on the game’s website win $100.

Additionally Rohrer said he might put together a highlight reel of the hunt. The various cameras set up around the location captured hundreds of hours of footage that showed not only the treasure and the various forest critters that found it, but about a dozen human treasure hunters that got to the location a bit too late.

Rohrer put a geocache box out at the site for anyone who thinks they know where it is, and the trail cams, before they were removed, caught a few people celebrating, he said.

He is open to the idea of planning another treasure hunt, but not at this time. For now, Rohrer said he wants to relax and decompress before working on another treasure hunt.

“The last chapter hasn’t been written yet,” Rohrer said.

Reach Madison Schofield at 413-930-4579 or mschofield@recorder.com.